Post-Conflict Peace-building

Introduction

Post-conflict peace-building is a term of recent origin that defines action undertaken by the UN to prevent the resurgence of conflict, help countries put back in place the foundations of normal life, and move societies towards sustainable peace. This is a multifaceted process, involving co-operation between various UN agencies across a range of issues. These include: the return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs); demobilising and reintegrating former combatants into civilian society; providing assistance for democratic development; supporting economic and social development; and re-establishing the rule of law. Addressing these particular needs of societies emerging from conflict is necessarily a long-term process, one that presents major challenges to the UN.

The Origins of UN Peace-building

The practice of UN peace-building predates the emergence of a clearly defined concept. A notable early example of a long-term, inter-agency approach to the resolution of conflict was the UN Development Programme's (UNDP) Nicosia Master Plan Project, concerned since 1980 with redeveloping the Cypriot capital, divided by conflict into Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot zones. A 1987 UNDP leaflet outlines the aim of the Plan 'to [transcend] immediate political difficulties through technical collaboration designed to find solutions to common socio-economic, physical and environmental problems affecting the city'.

However, in An Agenda for Peace (1992), former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali brought clarity and coherence to the concept when he described peace-building as:

Action to identify and support structures which will tend to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict - rebuilding the institutions and infrastructures of nations torn by civil war and strife [and tackling the] deepest causes of conflict: economic despair, social injustice and political oppression.

The impetus behind this explicit UN mandate for peace-building came from the UN's past experience of peacekeeping as well as from its involvement in internal conflicts after the end of the Cold War.

In the early 1990s, the UN's focus was very much on peacekeeping, with almost 80,000 peacekeepers deployed around the world. Traditionally, these were military operations, consisting of interposing UN soldiers between two warring national armies to monitor a cease-fire or implement a peace agreement. However, the problems arising from intervention in internal conflicts prompted a change in the nature of peacekeeping. First, the blurring of divisions between civilian and military combatants highlighted the need for greater co-ordination between peacekeeping activities to end violence and non-military activities to ameliorate the long-term effects of conflict. Second, traditional peacekeeping could not deal with the high-risk of peace agreements unravelling in the absence of effective political authority in the immediate aftermath of internal conflict.

In this context, a new generation of peacekeeping operations emerged that involved UN military and civilian personnel in everything from the delivery of humanitarian aid to demobilisation, election observance and police training. An April 1999 report by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), titled Multidisciplinary Peacekeeping: Lessons from Recent Past, highlights this shift of emphasis, stating that peacekeeping mandates 'should be conceptualised flexibly and could include elements of peace-building and emergency reconstruction of war-torn economies'.

Peace-building Strategies

Each post-conflict situation presents a unique set of circumstances and there is no 'one-size-fits-all' peace-building model. Instead, the UN attempts to tailor its activities on a case-by-case basis and thus the scope for peace-building varies. Nevertheless, areas can be identified where assistance is most urgently required. The range of these activities reflects the complexity of the problems associated with post-conflict societies.

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

The displacement of large numbers of people both within and across borders (IDPs and refugees, respectively) has come to be associated with conflict. The UN plays a critical role in providing humanitarian assistance and preventing renewed violence through work of the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). International protection and monitoring can prevent the strains on post-conflict societies - brought about by the resettlement of communities - from becoming divisive and leading to further conflict.

Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR)

DDR has been a feature of many peace agreements, and provides immediate post-conflict stability, encourages parties to work for the peaceful restoration of their societies, and is a crucial step towards sustainable peace. However, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette has highlighted the difficulties of the task:

Demobilisation immediately raises the problem of economic and social reinsertion of ex-combatants. Very often, special programmes have to be put in place - such as the distribution of land, micro-finance schemes and start-up grants in the form of tools and seeds - to ensure that demobilised soldiers have opportunities for gainful employment.

Combatants often know only the force of arms and possess only illegal, negative skills such as robbery and extortion to earn a living. They are also likely to return to a life of violence if they find no legitimate livelihood, and thus reintegration must focus on helping former combatants break from their past.

Assistance for Democratic Development

Two factors provide the driving force behind promoting democracy in post-conflict societies. The first is the alignment of the international community behind the proposition that only democracy validates governance. The reaction of the Organisation of American States to the overthrow of Haiti's democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in September 1991 illustrates the point. The OAS adopted a resolution demanding the return of Aristide to office, full application of the Haitian Constitution and full observance of human rights.

The second factor relates to the so-called 'democratic peace' - the assertion that no two modern democracies have gone to war with each other. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant was the first proponent of the pacific nature of democracy, contending in Perpetual Peace that those who pay for wars in democracies - the citizens - 'will have a great hesitation in calling down on themselves all the miseries of war'. While controversy surrounds the central proposition of the 'democratic peace' - that a more democratic world would be a more peaceful one - it is crucial to recognise that democracy entails a spirit of compromise and a willingness to resolve civil disputes without recourse to violence.

Democracy must be seen as a credible mechanism through which views can be represented. In the early 1990s, UN missions in Namibia, Cambodia, El Salvador and Mozambique, relied on holding 'free and fair' elections - the most visible characteristic of democracy - as a means of fostering stability and creating legitimacy for new governments. This involved the UN monitoring the fairness and legality of elections and even organising the structure of the process. It should be noted, however, that while elections provide a tangible 'exit strategy', they should only be held in an environment where the population accepts the ballot over the bullet to ensure that the result is not overturned by force after the UN leaves. It is also important that elections are seen as part of the broader process of democratisation, focusing on institution-building and peaceful dispute resolution mechanisms.

Supporting Economic and Social Development

Peace-building in economic and social areas requires fundamental reform since poverty, social inequality and discrimination are often the root causes of conflict. This involves addressing issues including land ownership, taxation and pricing policies, and the quality of and access to health and education services.

The UN has a significant responsibility for ensuring the delivery of economic aid to all sectors of society in support of democratic institutions. It does this through the work of the UNDP as well as macro-economic programmes run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Likewise, the provision of good quality education is essential to peace-building for it contributes to a democratic and participatory society. In this regard, the work of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and its development of education programmes is vital.

Re-establishing the Rule of Law

In an address to the International Peace Academy in May 1998, Louise Fréchette commented on the importance of the rule of law in peace-building:

Restoring the judicial system is a high priority in many post-conflict situations. Competent judges and police officers, as well as functional court and prison systems, are essential to maintain order and restore a sense of security in a country.

This task is often a daunting one for the UN, as the experiences of Kosovo and East Timor demonstrate. Here, the pre-existing legal systems had completely disintegrated, court buildings had been torched and looted, and all court equipment, records, archives and law books dislocated or burned. In addition, all judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and many support staff had fled. In East Timor, fewer than ten lawyers were estimated to have remained, and these were believed to be too inexperienced to serve in a new East Timorese justice system.

Peace-building in Practice

As of October 2003, the UN was involved in twelve peace-building operations in Afghanistan, Bougainville, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Great Lakes Region, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, the Middle East, Somalia, Tajikistan, West Africa and Côte d'Ivoire.

Some of these operations operate on a small staff and budget, such as that on the Pacific island of Bougainville. The UN Political Office in Bougainville (UNPOB) was set-up in August 1998 following a cease-fire between the separatist Bougainville People's Congress and the Papua New Guinea Government, and has helped facilitate the Bougainville Peace Agreement reached in August 2001. It operates with just four international civilian staff, three local personnel, and one military advisor.

Others, like the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) are much larger. Set up in 1994 and currently headed by Tom Koenings of Germany, MINUGUA has strength of 42 international civilians, 3 civilian police, 31 UN volunteers, and 115 local civilians. The operation initially focused exclusively on human rights abuses. However, since the final peace agreement was signed in 1996, its mandate was broadened to include reforming the police force and judiciary, and undertaking a wide-range of other peace-building activities.

Peace-building at Headquarters

The Security Council always has a central role to play in peace-building. It is the organ responsible for formulating practicable mandates as well as mobilising sustained political will and resources. Further, its debates and resolutions can guide the development of a peace-building doctrine. For instance, in a presidential statement in 1998 the Council outlined the value of incorporating peace-building elements in the mandates of peacekeeping operations, the need for close co-operation and dialogue between the bodies of the UN system, and its willingness to consider ways to improve such co-operation.

Peace-building in the Field

The Secretary-General often sends a Special Representative (SRSG) to head UN political offices that undertake peace-building activities. According to Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Kieran Prendergast, the role of the SRSG is an inherently messy business:

Each representative faces a unique set of problems and has to find unique ways of dealing with them. In some countries all the factions welcome the UN presence. In others, the UN has to tread carefully not to be perceived as being one-sided or interfering. The SRSG is often blamed for the failures and can rarely take credit for the successes.

The role of the SRSG is essentially to work alongside UN agencies in the field to define a clear division of labour and ensure effective co-ordination.

In post-conflict situations where there is no designated SRSG, specialised agencies of the UN undertake activities with significant peace-building components. The UNHCR helps repatriate and resettle refugees and contributes to normalising people's lives. The World Bank - established after World War II to support the reconstruction of Europe - has in recent years committed a large proportion of its work to assisting countries emerging from conflict by devising ways to provide revenue to cash-strapped governments so that they can pay salaries and rebuild infrastructure. And the UNDP, whether contributing to democratisation, troop disarmament, poverty alleviation or good governance, is committed to reducing the risks of conflict recurring.

Even where programmes are not specifically designed for peace-building, they may contribute to it. For instance in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the World Health Organisation (WHO) was able to get scientists and doctors across rebel lines to try and contain an outbreak of the Marburg virus. As the UN makes clear, this helped build peace by reminding the Congolese parties that they had common concerns. Similarly in Tajikistan, the UN Drug Control and Crime Prevention Programme established a Drug Control Agency to stop the flow of drugs into the country, directly related to the flow of arms.

Major Challenges

Such multifaceted peace-building operations face significant challenges including fostering local ownership, constructing entrance and exit strategies, and developing a deep understanding of the specific problems of the country in question. However, two further challenges warrant particular mention.

(1) Long-Term Commitment

Mobilising the political will and resources to see through the job is the single most important challenge facing peace-building. The costs involved in peace-building are particularly high owing to its multifaceted and long-term nature. Compared with the human and financial costs of war, however, there is a clear need to achieve sustained support. Thus, states must be prepared to make a long-term commitment to peace-building, requiring flexibility and creativity to respond to inevitable setbacks, and providing the necessary resources to set these countries back on the path to peace. A September 2003 report entitled 'The United Kingdom and the United Nations', made clear the UK government's commitment to post-conflict assistance:

The Department for International Development is the largest of nine donors to UNDP's Millennium Programme. Since 2000, the UK has also supported UNDP's capacity to provide effective response to conflicts and natural disasters through a package of assistance to the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) with an overall value of £5.8 million.

(2) Promoting a Preventive Capacity

The need to utilise peace-building more fully as a preventive strategy has been at the heart of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's vision for reforming the UN, a point raised in his statement to the Security Council in February 2001:

We tend to think of peace-building as taking place primarily in post-conflict settings. Here, the goals are to consolidate peace, to reinforce a fragile stability and prevent a slide back into conflict. But I also see peace-building as a preventive instrument, which can address the underlying root causes of conflict and which can be used before the actual outbreak of war.

Transforming this vision into a reality and practising preventive peace-building more readily will make peace-building a more cost effective process.

Enhancing Co-ordination

Given the number of agencies and tasks involved in peace-building, the importance of effective co-ordination cannot be overstated. The UN has acknowledged its shortcomings in this regard and in recent years has attempted to resolve the problems both in the field and at headquarters.

On a pilot basis, the UN has established peace-building support offices (PBSOs) in the Central Afican Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Tajikistan. These offices are designed to co-ordinate peace-building activities in the field by working with both governments and non-governmental parties and complementing ongoing UN development activities. Although these initiatives are relatively new and are constrained by limited resources, they have helped governments to destroy weapons, build institutions, and mobilise international political support for their societies' needs.

At headquarters, the Report of the Panel on UN Peace Operations (Brahimi Report, August 2000) stated that:

Effective peace-building requires a focal point to co-ordinate the many different activities that building peace entails. To that end, there is great merit in creating a consolidated and permanent institutional capacity within the UN system.

The Panel welcomed the decision by the Secretary-General in 1997 to designate the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) as the focal point for peace-building and outlined its support for ongoing efforts by the DPA and UNDP to jointly strengthen UN peace-building co-ordination and capacity. It also recommended that the Executive Committee on Peace and Security (ECPS) present proposals to the Secretary-General on a more detailed plan to enhance the permanent capacity of the UN to develop peace-building strategies and programmes to support their implementation.

Final Remarks

Post-conflict peace-building presents complex and diverse challenges, and despite efforts to improve co-ordination in the field and at headquarters, there is still room for improvement in the way the UN approaches the task. Fundamental to bolstering the capacity of UN peace-building must be the genuine recognition among member states that peace-building cannot be an add-on or afterthought. As the Secretary-General asserted to the Security Council in 2001, 'it is a tool of proven worth'let us pledge to develop and improve it'

Author: Tim Pippard, Research Assistant, editor: Alex Ramsbotham, Head of Research

UN and Conflict Briefings

This set of briefing papers has been financed by a donation in memory of Joy K B Wynn-Jones and Mary Owen. For a full publication list and more detailed information on the work of the Programme, please contact Alexander Ramsbotham, Head of Research, UN and Conflict Programme, UNA-UK, 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL.

Tel: (switchboard) +44 (0)20 7766 3444 (direct line) +44 (0)20 7766 3446 Fax: +44 (0)20 7930 5893 E-mail: aramsbotham@una-uk.org.